Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Modern Climate Change According to Karl and Trenberth (2003), earth is habitable largely due to its relative location to the sun, and its natural greenhouse effect on the atmosphere. Various gases found within the atmosphere contribute to a greenhouse effect including: water vapour contributing about ~60%, carbon dioxide at ~25%, ~8% from the ozone and the rest from traces of other gases including methane and nitrous oxide. On average, solar energy achieved at the top of the planet’s atmosphere is ~175 petawatt (an equivalent to 1015 watts) with about 31% reflected by clouds from the surface. The rest of the energy is absorbed by the atmosphere, land, and ocean, ultimately emitted back as infrared radiation. …show more content…
However, impacts on the natural environment, human health, and lastly the economics are the most visible and documented. The Government of Canada suggests that the environmental impacts of GHG emissions are once again, the increase in overall average annual temperatures. As a result, a decrease in snow, sea ice, and glacier coverage, resulting in rising sea levels and an increase in coastal flooding. Rising temperature have also brought upon an increase in the risks of heat waves and forest fires. Human health impacts include a rater risk of respiratory and cardiovascular problems as a result of air pollution. Pollution in the waters leads to risks of water-, food-, and rodent-borne diseases, which ultimately lead to economic impacts such as the rising economic stress on health and social support systems needed to treat the increase in diseases. In addition, economies dependent on agriculture, forestry, and even tourism may be affected by the changing weather patterns (Canada, n.d.) It is also logically agreed upon that as human population and activity increases, so should emissions levels. However, this idea has been challenged by the implementation of policies aimed at reducing emissions and regulating emissions standards for industries.
Emissions Mitigation Through Federal Policy Development The general consensus and aim for policy development regarding GHG emissions mitigation
Hammurabi, King and ruler of Babylon from 1792-1750 B.c at the beginning of his rein, Mesopotamia was divided into many city states, all with their own patterns of shifting rules, but Hammurabi eventually brought the entire region under his control, he collected laws from varied city states, and wrote down a set of codes, that soon governed the entire area (King 56). Hammurabi’s written code allowed lot to be a matter of public knowledge and so help advance the rule of law in society. Babylon’s great monuments make a strong impression of the biblical scribes, but the most enduring legacy surviving to this day, is the Babylonian intervention far more impression still, the Rule of Law (King 56). Babylon was the first civilization on earth to have a written legal code ( King 56) . The original carb stone is in an astonishing relic, lost for hundreds of years it will emerge in the late 19 century, a stone engraved with one of the most important legal documents of all time (King 58). 12 hundred years before the issue relies was taking captive a Babylonian king who had the stone carb with the laws, the barriers name Hammurabi’s code (King 61).
In the article “Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act,” the National Women’s Law Center states, on average, women earn 78 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn. Of these women, African American women earn 64 cents, while Latin American women earn a mere 55 cents. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became one of the many stepping stones in achieving equal pay. Women must continue to make people aware of the discrimination they faced in the workplace on a daily basis.
Climate change will create a number of health problems in the near future and become a top social issue. Climate will create more smog which will lead to higher rates of and other heat related illness.” Montreal currently has approximately 70 annual heat related deaths, while Toronto has 20. According to the (World health organization,2015). The statistic shows why this has become a social issue because people are dying every year affecting our society. Climate change also affects our world economy. The country is spending a lot of money trying to combat the issue as the country is losing natural resources as well as expected natural disasters are taking place. In 2013 there was an increase in floodings in the Toronto and Vancouver area due to unexpected weather. The clean-up bill came to $1.9 billion — the single most costly disaster in Canadian history — and 90 per cent of it was on the federal tab because Canadians cannot buy flood insurance”(Moore,2015.) As you can see the impacts of climate change leave the government with having to pay massive amounts money when it could be used for other things like creating jobs but that money is often now lost. Climate change has an effect on the environment. The glaciers in the Antarctic are melting as a result of increased amounts of heat now we are losing a part of
The Earth’s climate is determined by the receipt and distribution of the radiation received from the sun (Dunne, 2013). Light from the sun undertakes three corridors: 25% is absorbed by the atmosphere, 30% is reflected back into space and 45% is absorbed by the Earth’s surface (Dunne, 2013). The light absorbed by the Earth’s surface is converted into energy and used for the various biological processes. In the atmosphere, some gases have strong infrared radiation absorption ability and are able to absorb the infrared emitted by the Earth’s surface, and re-emit this infrared to the Earth’s surface, thus warming the Earth’s surface more than it otherwise would be (Botkin & Keller, 2014). These gases are referred to as greenhouse gases and this warming of the Earth’s surface is referred to as “The Greenhouse Effect”. Figure 1 below presents an illustration of this greenhouse effect. The greenhouse gases cause heat to become trapped between the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface, similar to how air is trapped in a greenhouse. It must be noted that the greenhouse effect is a naturally occurring phenomenon but it has been amplified by the addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere from human activities (Anderson, Hawkins & Jones, 2016). The natural greenhouse effect ensures that the Earth’s temperature is kept at a comfortable average of 140C, rather than the otherwise -210C (Anderson et al, 2016).
As carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise so does the temperature. Not only this but are air gets more polluted along with are water and some of are foods that are more likely to get diseased or infected. This will result in many people getting sick from either bad air, polluted water, and food contaminations. This will cause many Canadian to go to the hospital and doctors more often which can ultimately lead to deaths. Not only that but there may also be a big disease breakout in foods and water if global warming continues which can cause an epidemic.
Why start something if you can’t finish it? Because, we cut down greenhouse gasses because we started using more natural gas.It would also allow the technologies that we would need time to develop, and become great, magnificent even, and popular. And since jobs and money have been tight, people are buying less. These are my three reasons to support my claim. I think that the U.S. should not make laws on climate change right away. Climate change is a very serious issue but, we won’t be able to start and stop it with the technology that we have. Also if the U.S will do something about climate change, then so might others. Yet, these gases are dangerous risks to the world's businesses, its environment and the health of all people. We have increased our demand of burning fossil fuels.
Humans are polluting our atmosphere causing the Greenhouse Effect. What’s the Greenhouse Effect? “The Greenhouse Effect can be visualized as follows: imagine that Earth has been encircled by a giant glass sphere. The heat of the sun penetrates through the glass. Some of the heat is absorbed by the Earth, and some is radiated back towards space. The radiated heat reaches the glass sphere and is prevented from dispersing any further”(Global Warming The Facts). This makes the heat bounce back towards the Earth, which heats it up tremendously.
In the beginning the earth was hot and pure lava, then it became covered with
NGS integrates greenhouse into other major policy initiatives, such as the Natural Heritage Trust, and launches new measures to increase greenhouse emission reduction activities across the Australian community. It provides the strategic framework for an effective greenhouse response and for meeting current and future international commitments. It will provide a fresh impetus for action by governments, stakeholder groups and the broader community and set directions for that action into the next century.
Climate change or colloquially known as global warming, now pose a new threat to civilization as the levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) are soaring to new levels. The most significant contributor to greenhouse gasses would be Carbon Dioxide (Co2). The levels of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) gas have risen to levels civilization has not seen before. As such, the effects of these levels are not known to civilization as data gathered from the ice cores drilled in the Antarctica only shows data up to 650,000 years ago. However we can conclude that present CO2 concentrations are higher compared to any time in the last 650,000 years (IPCC 2007). Current carbon dioxide concentrations are hovering around 389 parts per million (ppm) as of September 2011,
Much like the glass of a greenhouse, gases in our atmosphere sustain life on Earth by trapping the sun 's heat. The Earth’s atmosphere contains several different gases that act like a blanket, keeping the Earth warm. Water vapour and some trace gases like CO2, CH4 (methane), O3 (ozone), N2O (nitrous oxide), are “IR active”, i.e. they absorb heat energy, and stop the warmth from escaping into space. Without the entrapment of heat, the earth’s mean temperature would be -180 C and life, as we know it today, would not be possible. These gases are present in the atmosphere in tiny quantities compared to the amounts of oxygen and nitrogen. But even a small change in the concentration of these gases may create an effect that could change our
The United States releases twenty tons of carbon monoxide per person per year. Carbon Monoxide release is a result of burning fossil fuels with an insufficient amount of oxygen that causes the formation of carbon monoxide that pollutes our environment. Everyday fuel is burnt by cars, airplanes, large factories and manufacturing plants. This is causing a very large and deadly problem for our environment. When gases used on earth are released into the atmosphere they act as a blanket and trap radiation that is then redirected to earth. This concept is called the Greenhouse Effect (Bad Greenhouse, 1).
The greenhouse effect occurs when the major gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide and water vapour which then will trap heat in the atmosphere therefore those gasses act as a thick layer outside the planet surrounding the whole planet to control the climate (REF). If we did not have this layer that surrounds the planet and keeps it warm, the temperature would drop and it would not be inhabitable for humans. (REF)
Energy from the sun drives the earth’’s weather and climate, and heats the earth’’s surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the
Global warming is caused by emission of greenhouse gases. 72% of the totally emitted greenhouse gases Is carbon dioxide. CO2 is inevitably created by burning of fuels like e.g. Oil, diesel, petrol etc. The use of such fuels can be minimized by using alternative fuels which do not contain carbon or contain less carbon. The alternative fuels such as ethanol produced from renewable lignocellulosic resources or fuels produced from seawater. Research on improving ethanol production is accelerating for both economical and ecological reasons, primarily for its use as a alternative to Petroleum based fuels. Lignocellulosic biomass is the most abundant raw material in the world. Production of ethanol from renewable lignocellulosic Resources may improve energy availability, decrease air pollution, diminish atmospheric CO2 accumulation. The production of fuel from seawater takes 23,000 gallon of seawater to produce to produe one gallon of liquid hydrocarbon fuel. This process solves two problems; dependence on fossil fuels and rising of sea level. The ultraviolet rays coming from sun also contribute to global warming by destroying the protective ozone layer. Sunshade Geoengineering – the installation of a Reflective Mirrors between earth and sun to reduce the incoming solar radiation, has been proposed as a Mitigative measures to counteract anthropogenic global warming.